FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Diane L. Thompson +1 703.886.0020 [email protected]
Julian Guthrie Announced as Recipient of American Astronautical Society Emme Award
The award recognizes Ms. Guthrie for How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight
SPRINGFIELD, VA (September 8, 2017) – The American Astronautical Society (AAS) is happy to announce Julian Guthrie is the recipient of the 2016 Eugene E. Emme Award for Astronautical Literature for How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight (Penguin Press).
How to Make a Spaceship examines the process by which the Scaled Composites Company, founded by Paul Allen and Burt Rutan, created a reusable piloted spacecraft in order to win the Ansari X Prize in 2004. Beginning with a discussion of Peter Diamandis, the driving force behind the development of the X Prize, the book explores how a group of individuals united by a deep and abiding interest in the history of manned spaceflight coalesced into a unit that ultimately built the legendary SpaceShipOne. While the development of that craft provides the overarching framework for the narrative, the stories of the individuals who contributed to the project give the book its necessary perspective. Although many who read the book will already know the eventual outcome, How to Make a Spaceship still manages to convey the sense of uncertainty that all the participants felt right up until the fateful flights in October of 2004. Based on numerous in-depth interviews, the book stands as a testament to author Julian Guthrie’s ability to discuss a significant historical achievement in an engaging fashion.
The annual Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Awards, named for NASA’s first Historian, recognize outstanding books which advance public understanding of astronautics through originality, scholarship and readability. The award will be presented on March 14, 2018 during the American Astronautical Society’s Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greenbelt, Maryland.
About AAS The American Astronautical Society is the premier network of current and future space professionals dedicated to advancing all space activities. Founded in 1954, the AAS has long been recognized for the excellence of its national meetings, technical meetings, symposia and publications and for their impact on shaping the U.S. space program. Members have opportunities to meet with leaders in their field and in related disciplines, exchange information and ideas, discuss career aspirations and expand their knowledge and expertise.
# # #
6352 Rolling Mill Place, Suite 102, Springfield, Virginia 22152-2370 Tel: 703-866-0020 ♦ Fax: 703-866-3526 [email protected] ♦ www.astronautical.org